Sioux City, IA - The Gary SouthShore RailCats beat the X’s in a rain shortened game 3-0 on Sunday night avoiding the sweep.

Gary SouthShore got the scoring going in the first inning with a small two out rally. Andy Paz singled. Colin Willis reached on a single sending Paz first to third on the play. DK Carey then reached on a throwing error by the third baseman scoring Paz making it 1-0 RailCats though they would leave runners on second and third to end the inning. The lead for Gary was the first time in the six games that they had held a lead against the Explorers.

Gary scored again in the second when Garrett Copeland lead off with a double. He advanced to third on an infield base hit by Christoph Bono and scored when Cole Fabio grounded into a 4-6-3 double play the X’s trading the two outs for the run, Gary took a 2-0 lead after 2 innings.

Gary collected one more run off of X’s James Dykstra in the fifth as Cole Fabio lead off the inning with a double he scored on a 2-out single by Andy Paz to make it 3-0 Gary.

James Dykstra (5-2) took the tough luck loss tonight as he went 7 innings, allowing the 3 runs though only 1 was earned did not walk a single batter and struck out a season high 10 batters. The 10 strikeouts were the most by any Explorers pitcher in a start this season. Dykstra’s previous season high for strikeouts was 4.

The X’s did threaten to score on Gary starting pitcher Daniel Minor as they loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the sixth but were unable to push any runs across.

The game was then called on an account of rain in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the RailCats in the lead 3-0 finishing off the victory and avoiding the sweep.

Sunday was the last time that the RailCats and X’s will play in the 2018 regular season, in the series the Explorers finished the season series with a 5-1 record. They outscored the RailCats 30-6 in those six games.

Sioux City will now go on a six game road trip beginning with the St. Paul Saints on Monday with first pitch schedule for 7:05. A day off for the team on Thursday, June 28th and then a three game weekend series with the Wichita Wingnuts.